NBA Timeline

With fans excited that the lockout has finally come to an end.  The tentative timeline have come out of how the league schedule will go this season.  Teams will only play 66 regular season games, 48 being in their respective conferences and 18 non-conference games.  Below is the respective schedule for this season:

Today 11/30/11: Teams were able to begin talking to restricted and unrestricted free agents.

Thursday 12/1/11: Teams may begin to open arenas to players to begin coming in for individual workouts

Friday 12/9/11: Training Camps as well as free agency (official day to begin offering deals for free agents) will begin

Sunday 12/25/11: The season will tip off with some key match-ups including Lakers/Bulls, Celtics/Knicks, and a Finals rematch between the Heat and Mavericks.

12/25/11-4/26/12:  The regular season will run a few weeks longer than usual due to the delay in start of the season and the last regular season game is expected to be played April 26, 2012.  Throughout the season each team is expected to play at least one, but no more than three, back-to-back-to-back games in order to squeeze the 66 regular season games in the short time frame.

With the regular season ending a couple of weeks later than usual the playoffs are scheduled to end no later than June 26, 2012 which also a couple of weeks later than usual.  During the 2nd round of the playoffs teams may have to also play in the back-to-back format due to the crunch on time.

Syracuse Fires Assistant Basketball Coach

(Kevin Rivoli, AP)

In the wake of child molestation allegations Syracuse University fired Bernie Fine on Sunday night after a third man has come forward accusing Fine of molesting him for nine years.  Bernie Fine had been with Syracuse basketball coaching staff since 1976 when he was brought on as the assistant coach by the current head coach Jim Boeheim.  Boeheim stated that he supported the decision of the university, this coming a week after he publicly stated that the accusers were lying and the accusations were an attempt to receive money.

"I am personally very shocked because I have never witnessed any of the activities that have been alleged." -Jim Boeheim

Allegations against Fine were first reported on November 17th by two former Syracuse ball boys, stepbrothers Bobby Davis and Mike Lang.  Davis, now 39, said that Fine began molesting him in 1984 and Lang, now 45, stated that Fine began molesting him when he was in the 5th or 6th grade.  The 3rd accuser Tomaselli stated that the allegations against Penn State's former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky prompted him to come forward about Fine.

As allegations continue to come out individuals are trying to compare the Penn State Scandal to the Syracuse Scandal but they are 1 and the same as well as completely different. The allegations against Fine and Sandusky are the same but the situations are completely different.  In the Syracuse scandal there are no eye witnesses and no signs of a cover up by the university like the situation at Penn State where it has been alleged that several people at Penn State knew of the allegations against Sandusky including head coach Joe Paterno, whom was later fired due to the scandal.

Stay tuned to see how things turn out.  I pray for all victims involved in both the Penn State and Syracuse scandal.  They're both horrible situations all away around.

Jaguars Fire Head Coach

(Getty Images)

After 9th season with the Jacksonville Jaguars, after Sunday's loss to the Houston Texans Jack Del Rio is now looking for a new job after today.  After a 4th straight non-winning season for the Jaguars, owner Wayne Weaver decided Tuesday morning to fire Del Rio.  Weaver was going to make his final decision on Del Rios' future with the Jaguars at the end of the season but Weaver made his decision 5 weeks before the end of the regular season.  Del Rio is the only coach in NFL history to coach a team 9 seasons and not win a division title and was 69-73 with the Jaguars which includes one playoff win in 2007.  Jacksonville has decided to move forward without Jack and maybe it will be for the better or the worse, only time will tell.  The firing of Del Rio came before it was reported that Shahid Khan agreed that he would acquire the Jaguars from Weaver for $760 million.  Khan has been looking to getting his foot in a NFL franchise ownership and was also eyeing the St. Louis Rams.  Khan assured Weaver that the team will remain in Jacksonville.

NFL Week 12 Recap

Week 12 was filled very close games, blow outs, a sibling rivalry and dirty players being fined.  We're heading into the stretch and games are starting to get a little more intense with teams fighting for their bid into the playoffs.  Some teams are currently sure wins into the playoffs while other divisions are a lot closer and teams are fighting to the very end to get their spot.

Week 12 Recap

• Detroit Lions' Ndamukong Suh has been suspended 2 games after stomping a Packer's player that was laying on the ground after a play.  Suh plans to appeal the 2 game suspension.
• The Packers held the Lions to a scoreless first 3 quarters as Aaron Rodges once again connected with 9 different receivers for 307 passing yards in the Thanksgiving match-up.

In Case You Missed It

There was a very action filled Thanksgiving week in the world of Sports. The NFL gave us a very Happy Thanksgiving with three back to back action filled games, starting with the undefeated Green Bay Packers taking on the Detroit Lions, followed by the Miami Dolphins giving the Dallas Cowboys a run for their money, and ending with a sibling rivalry between John and Jim Harbaugh, head coaches of the San Francisco 49ers and the Baltimore Ravens.

Not only did we get action in the NFL, college football was also a thriller with rivalry week with games like Georgia versus Georgia Tech, Auburn versus Alabama, Clemson versus South Carolina and Florida versus Florida State just to name a few.  The game of games in college football this week had to be the Texas Tech versus Baylor game whose score when it came to the end looked the score of a college basketball game with Baylor beating Texas Tech 66-42. Baylor's Ganaway rushed for 257 yards and 3 touchdowns in the game and between the 2 teams there were 3 receivers to have more than 100 receiving yards.  And with the on going legal issues and scandal surrounding Penn State they continue to struggle as they lost yesterday to Wisconsin 45-7.

Football wasn't the only thing getting all the action basketball was right there with them college and NBA.  And I know there were no NBA games BUT the players and owners have reached a tentative agreement ending the lockout yesterday November 26th after 146 days.    In college basketball Duke won it's 5th straight Maui Invitational title. The Blue Devils have attended the Maui Invitational 5 times and are 15-0 in the tournament, winning again on Wednesday against Kansas.  The game came down to the end and Tyler Thornton hit a late 3 pointer that sealed the victory for the Blue Devils.  Also in action last night UNLV upset the top ranked UNC in the Las Vegas Invitational championship game.  The game was head to head but UNLV eventually  began to pull away and left the Tarheels in shock beating them by 10 points.  Also another one of college basketball teams were in action last night as well, UCONN topped Florida State in overtime in the Battle 4 Atlantis consolation game in the Bahamas.

For more on the action this past week visit ESPN to see how your teams played against their opponent. 

Merry Early Christmas from the NBA

After a complete breakdown in negotiations 12 days ago, on Day 149 of the lockout the owners and players have reached a tentative agreement after secretly meeting all week.  The details of the deal has not been released as both sides will have to vote on the deal, needing a majority vote (15 out of 29 votes) from the owners and a majority vote from the 430 players in which the union represents.  Before the players are able to vote on the deal they must first drop the anti-trust lawsuit they filed against the NBA in Minnesota and reform the union.  In hopes that the majority wins and the deal is implicated, training camps and free agency will begin on December 9th with the NBA bringing everyone a happy Christmas with games beginning on that day.  The season will jump off with the Boston Celtics taking on the New York Knicks, followed by the Miami Heat taking on the Dallas Mavericks in a NBA Finals rematch, and ending with the LA Lakers taking on last years league MVP Derrick Rose and the Chicago Bulls.  With the delay in start the players will only play a 66 games season instead of the usual 82 games season.  I don't know about you all but I am one happy individual this morning with the NBA coming back on Christmas Day.  Stay tuned for the details of the deal which will be soon to come.

NFL Week 10 Recap

I missed last week but I'm back for the Week 10 Recap in the NFL.  There were some pretty rivals going on this week with the Falcons taking on the Saints, the Patriots taking on the Jets, and the Raiders taking on the Chargers.  Besides the really good games we had some interesting things going on in the games.  Below are the recaps from this week.

Week 10 Recap:

• In What Were You Thinking News: Bills' David Nelson ran completely to the opposite end of the field after scoring a touchdown to give his girlfriend the football.  Oh did I mention that his girlfriend was currently cheering during the game for the Dallas Cowboys, yes the opposing team.
• Carson Palmer bounced back after struggling the last few weeks with Raiders with 14/20 completions for 299 passing yards and 2 touchdowns.
• After going 0-7 the Dolphins have now won 2 games in a row leaving the Colts to be the only team still winless going into Week 11 of the season.
• Tony Romo had a great game this week with 23/26 completions/attempts for 270 passing yards and 3 touchdowns.  The Cowboy's Murray had a good game with 20 carries for 135 rushing yards and 1 touchdown.
• Tebow only threw 4 passes completing 0 of them in the 1st half and ended the game with 2 completions out of 8 passes for 69 passing yards and 1 touchdown.  Tebow also rushed for 43 yards and 1 touchdown and Denver rushed the ball 55 times in the Broncos' victory.
• Vick, who played with 2 broken ribs, had a horrible game with 16 completions out of 34 pass attempts for 128 passing yards and 2 interceptions.  DeSean Jackson was not allowed to play in Sunday's game after missing a special's team meeting on Saturday.
• Falcons' Harry Douglas had 8 receptions for 133 receiving yards after entering the game Sunday in place of Julio Jones who left the game due to aggravating his hamstring injury.
• Tom Brady looked like his old self again after the Patriots had struggled the past few weeks with 26 completions of 39 pass attempts for 329 passing yards and 3 touchdowns.
• Aaron Rodgers had 23 completions of 30 pass attempts for 250 passing yards and 4 touchdowns; Rodgers also completed passes for 10 different receivers.
• Stafford threw 4 interceptions in the Lions' loss to the Bears.

Week 10 Scores:

Oakland Raiders 24 (5-4)

San Diego Chargers 17 (4-5)

Jacksonville Jaguars 17 (3-6)

Indianapolis Colts 3 (0-10)

New Orleans Saints 26 (7-3)
Atlanta Falcons 23 (5-4)

Houston Texans 37 (7-3)

Tampa Bay Buccaneers 9 (5-4)

Pittsburgh Steelers 24 (7-3)

Cincinnati Bengals 17 (6-3)

Tennessee Titans 30 (5-4)

Carolina Panthers 3 (2-7)

Arizona Cardinals 21 (3-6)

Philadelphia Eagles 17 (3-6)

New England Patriots 37 (6-3)

New York Jets 16 (5-4)

Denver Broncos 17 (4-5)

Kansas City Chiefs 10 (4-5)

Buffalo Bills 7 (5-4)

Dallas Cowboys 44 (5-4)

St. Louis Rams 13 (2-7)

Cleveland Browns 12 (3-6)

Washington Redskins 9 (3-6)

Miami Dolphins 20 (2-7)

Baltimore Ravens 17 (6-3)

Seattle Seahawks 22 (3-6)

Detroit Lions 13 (6-3)

Chicago Bears 37 (6-3)

New York Giants 20 (6-3)

San Francisco 27 (8-1)

Minnesota Vikings 7 (2-7)

Green Bay Packers 45 (9-0)

NFL Halftime Report

We're halfway through the regular season and some teams/players are dominating the game while others are falling short.  With the season being halfway done some teams will definitely be in the playoffs while other teams are going to have to bust their butts in this second half to maybe make the playoffs.

NFL Week 8 Recap

Week 8 in the NFL was not as shocking as the past weeks have been.  The teams that have been dominating the first 7 weeks of the season continued to dominate while other teams continued to struggle.  There were some key matches this past week that you could say were "playoff previews".  But the shock of the week came from the St. Louis Rams who beat the New Orleans Saints to gain their first win of the season.

Week 8 Recap

• After going down 14-3 early in the game, the Giants fought back holding the Dolphins to a scoreless 4th quarter coming back to win 20-17.  Reggie Bush had 15 carries for 103 rushing yards and Giants' Eli Manning had 349 passing yards for 2 touchdowns.
• Battle of the rookie quarterbacks occurred this past week between Cam Newton and Christian Ponder.  Newton ended the game with 290 passing yards and 3 touchdowns while Ponder had 236 passing yards and 1 touchdown.
• The St. Louis Rams FINALLY won a game for the first time this season.  The Rams took in the momentum of their fellow St. Louis team (Cardinals) who are the 2011 World Series Champion beating the New Orleans Saints.